Commentary on the world around us by an 'ordinary Aussie'.
I believe that the individual, their rights, freedoms and aspirations form the basic building blocks of a free society. I'm for; .Individual Rights, Freedom, Responsibility; .An Australian Republic (with a directly elected Head of State with real, codified reserve powers); .A Bill of Rights (with RKBA); .Direct Democracy (Initiative, Referendum, Recall); .Accessable, quality education; .A strong defence force; .Free markets.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Climate change, global warming. Time to panic?

Climate change, global warming is a hot topic these days. It seems to be at least an article of faith, a 'cause celebre' for the left side of politics. If you talk to some people, they believe it is the single most important issue in the world today, and failure to act immediately in the way those who believe that to be the case will have dire consequences for the planet, and soon. They speak in terms of coastal cities flooded, mass extinctions, environmental catastrophe.To them the debate is decided, and only the worst of people would dare disagree.

"...20.Sea Level Rise. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change does not forecast sea-level rises of “18 to 20 feet.” Rather, it says, “We project a sea level rise of 0.09 to 0.88 m for 1990 to 2100, with a central value of 0.48 m..."

Of considerable interest is the way the debate is conducted. This article quotes Margo Kingston as saying on WebDiary; "...David Irving is under arrest in Austria for Holocaust denial. Perhaps there is a case for making climate change denial an offence - it is a crime against humanity after all....". As the article (' Global warming: the chilling effect on free speech') says;

"...Whatever the truth about our warming planet, it is clear there is a tidal wave of intolerance in the debate about climate change which is eroding free speech and melting rational debate....".

This reminds me of the 'Limits to Growth' 'debate' (which predicted the world would start running out of strategic materials like chrome, oil, etc in the 1990s - that didn't happen).

Michael Crichton has an interesting commentary on the style of thinking evident in 'the Limits to Growth', Global Warming', and many other issues (like gun control perhaps?) here.

So what are we to do, and what are we to make of the debate? For both the 'Limits to Growth', and 'Global Warming' issues, I'd argue that the central issue is not what 20 million Australians do, or even what 300 million Americans do, but rather what 1.3 billion Chinese, and a billion Indians do (since it is their growing economies and consumption which will drive the statistics increasingly). What we do most certainly need is full, open and objective debate (not scare-mongering).

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Flintknapper_344 at hotmail dot com

"€œGood people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."€� - George Orwell
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" - Benjamin Franklin